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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Ever since i saw this recipe in Aipi's blog,have been cooking this regularly.Paneer is my daughter's new found favorite and this was perfect dish .A very quick and delicious side dish.I have tweaked the recipe a little. Instead of cooking the onions in water i have sauteed it in oil.Rest is the same.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

I think i have been very sporadic in blogging for quite some time. Srivalli's blogging challenge was truly the much needed push for me to blog regularly.The blogging marathon brought in huge hits to my page,I wouldn't hesitate to say that the visibilty has tremendously increased. Thanks to Srivalli and the marathon members.As the members visited each other daily, it sort of formed a personal bond. Feels great. I hope this marathon continues in coming months.Thanks again Srivalli and the other marathon bloggers for your continuous support even when i wasn't able to blog regularly

I guess i have talked enough , now lets move on to today's recipe.Whole wheat rava upma tastes better than the usual sooji and is more healthier and filling too good for a healthy breakfast.INGREDIENTS

Whole;e wheat rava 1cup

Onion 1

Capsicum Green/Yellow 1 each

Green chillies 2

Corn 1/4 cup

Green peas 1/4 cup

Oil 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds 2 tsp

Black gram dhal 2 tsp

Asafoetida 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves few

Coriander leaves 3 tbsp

PREPARATION

Cook the rava in the pressure cooker. I used 4 cups water and cooked for 3 whistles

Cut all the vegetables finely.

Take oil in a pan, heat it on medium flame and add mustard, black gram dhal.

When the mustard seeds splutter add the cut green chillies , curry leaves and saute for a minute.

Now add the onion, saute till it becomes transparent and add peas, capsicum and boiled corn

When the vegetables are half baked, add the cooked rava and mix well. Add the necessary salt and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid closed in a very low flame.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

HiBack to blogging after a short break due to my wrist injury. As i am not able to make elaborate dishes, thought of one quick dish for my entry for WE SHOULD COCOA. I had a lot of dessicated coconut in my cup board, had used only some for coconut ladoos i prepared earlier. I had seen a similar ladoo recipe in priya's blog too

INGREDIENTS

Condensed milk 1/2 cup

Water 1/4 cup

Dessicated coconut 1 1/2 cup+1/4 cup for rolling

Drinking chocolate 2 tbsp

Cocoa 1 tbspOUR DESPERATE ATTEMPTS TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE PYRAMID

PREPARATION

Mix the condensed milk and water in a microwave safe bowl. Heat it for 2 minutes in MICRO MODE. At this stage the condensed milk boils and starts to thicken.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

HiWhat do you do when your child especially a teen refuses to eat a particular vegetable, fruit ....You search for recipes that would morph the ingredient in its true nature and give all the goodness associated with it and yet be palatable to their choice. Well one such ingredient is peas and my daughter detests it, dunno why!!!!!You may ask, why not leave her alone with her choice, well!!one of those compelling MOMMY feelings that you are depriving your child of some precious nutrient.And in search of a peas recipe where the peas is not seen in the final outcome, i saw this particular recipe in TARLA dalal's WEBSITE

You can see the original recipe here.I tweaked it a little to suit my dear daughter

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Back with a Daring cooks challenge again and as usual late in posting it. Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

I chose to make vegetarian cassoulet from hereAnd Garlic Confit from here

My oven was in a mood of Satyagraha today and wouldn't work, so cooked the confit in the stove top mode. Wasn't really happy with the texture of the garlic though:-(

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This particular recipe has been in my bookmarked list since a long time. The pictures on PREMALATHA'S blog lingered on my mind.Today i had all the ingredients that this recipe required and assembled it within few minutes/

In a bowl mix the drinking chocolate and icing sugar . Add the cocoa powder and milk powder and mix well

Now add the condensed milk and mix thoroughly. The mixture should be very thick and you should be able to roll. If it is not thick enough add more of milk powder.

Roll into shapes and sizes that you prefer.

Chill in the refrigerator for 20- 30 minutes before slurping it down your throat:-)

Wondering as to why there are various sizes?????well!!!Could not resist my self from gobbling a few , It was difficult to have all the dough in front of me and just keep rolling:-)So decided to roll as fast as possible and kept it away from my sight so that i could save some for my chocoholic daughter...LOL:-)Thank you Premalatha!!!

Hey! Now that you have read the recipe, had a feast for your eyes, time for you to ....SPOT THE DIFFERENCE...ALL THAT ARE BrOwN ARE NOT CHocOLaTes..hehe

Monday, January 17, 2011

These small bead like kozhukattai make an amazing breakfast/or an evening snack.The very look of these small pearls will make you crave for more.Try this out and am sure you will love it.INGREDIENTS

Rice flour 1 cup

Water 1 cup

Salt 1/2 tsp

Oil 2 tsp

FOR GARNISHING

Oil 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Black gram dhal 2 tsp

Asafoetida 1 tsp

Green chillies 2 (chopped)

Black gram dhal 1 tsp

Grated fresh coconut 2-3 tbsp

Curry leaves few

Coriander 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Take a microwave safe bowl. Add water, salt and oil to it. Close with a microwave safe lid and microwave it on HIGH for 2 minutes.

Remove the lid and add the rice flour and mix thoroughly without lumps.Close with the lid and again microwave it for 1minute in MEDIUM HIGH mode.Take it out and see if all the moisture is absorbed or else cook for another 30 secsI HAVE USED MICROWAVE COOKING FOR THIS PART. YOU CAN ALSO USE THE TRADITION WAY OF DOING THIS IN THE STOVE TOP MODE

Let it cool. sprinkle a little water and knead into a smooth dough.

Make small, tiny balls and keep aside.

You can steam them in the microwave itself or steam it in the stove top mode.I use the stove top method to steam and steam it till cooked(7-10 minutes)Take a frying pan add the oil, when it gets heated up add the mustard seeds. When it crackles add the black gram dhal,green chillies, asafoetida, curry leaves. Pour this on the steamed kozhukattai's. Garnish with the coriander leaves with a generous amount of grated fresh coconut. Taste and if necessary add extra salt.Now lets see the other creations by my fellow bloggers...Srivalli,Priya suresh,Priya Vasu,Monika, PJ, ,Ayeesha,Soumya, Reva, Jayashree, Azeema

Sunday, January 16, 2011

HEYThis months Indian cooking challenge was very interesting. Srivalli challenged us to cook khandvi and she gave us two recipes which we could use. I have used Latajis hereThe original recipe is here

INGREDIENTS

Gram flour 1/3 cup

Sour curds 1/3 cup

Water 1 cup

Green chilli -ginger paste 2 tsp

Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

Asafoetida 1/4 tsp

Sugar 1 tsp

Salt as per taste

Cooking oil 3 tbspTEMPERING

Cooking oil 2 tsp

Mustard seeds 1tsp

Sesame seeds 2tspsGARNISHING

Fresh grated coconut 2 tbsp

Coriander leaves 2 tbsp

PREPARATION

Grease a thali well and keep it aside

Mix gram flour, salt , green chilli-ginger paste,beaten curds and water in a bowl. Mix thoroughly and the mixture should be free of any lumps.

Now add sugar, turmeric powder and asafoetida.

Heat oil in a thick bottom pan and add this batter.

Cook in a medium flame stirring continuously.

When the mixture turns a little light brown and when it starts leaving the sides of the pan , the batter is cooked and is ready to be transferred to the thali

Transfer it to the prepared thali and spread evenly and as thin as possibleon the thali.This should be done quickly as the batter thickens on cooling

Cut into strips and roll into spirals. Keep aside

Heat a pan with oil, add the mustard and sesame seeds.When it crackles add this to the prepared rolls

Garnish these beauties the fresh grated coconut and cilantroVERDICTAbsolutely delicious. Take a bite and it just glides down your throat. One of those dishes, which we will never be tired of cooking as well as eating. Thank you Srivalli and Lataji for this lovely recipe

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Sakkarai pongal.....yummmm.i am sure everyone loves this. This tastes particular great on the day of pongal since it is cooked the traditional way in pongal paanai, with the flavours of Fresh turmeric, fresh ginger from its leaves tied around the pot infusing into the pongal.The milk boiling from the pot, immediately the kids starting to chant"PONGAL O PONGAL" in a frenzy, any available utensil becomes their drum for the moment, The elders making sure that the aarti is done on time.......Hmmmm...anything traditional is good ,u agree right?????The preparation is very similar to the one shown in Barley pongal.

INGREDIENTS

Raw rice 2 cups

Green gram dhal 1/2 cup

Milk 2 cups

Jaggery 2 cups

Cardamom powder 2 tsp

Ghee 4 tbsp

Cashew few

Raisins few

PREPARATION

If you are cooking the traditional way then pour milk and equal amount of water in the pot and let it boil.

Once it starts boiling add the washed rice and green gram dhal and cook it in medium flame till it cooks very evenly adding more water if necessary. Take it off from the fire and let it cool.

In a pan add the jaggery with very little water and boil it till it reaches the hard ball consistency.Procedure is similar to the one shown here. Replace barley with rice

Now add the cooked rice-dhal mixture and continue to cook it till it thickens.

Remove from fire and add the cashew, raisins sauteed in ghee. Add more ghee if you like.